The Last Shadows
by Karkullmon
Summary: One week after MaloMyotismon's defeat, an ancient evil in the form of two immensely powerful Digimon reveals itself...


Author's note: This is my first fic. I'm trying to make an epic of sorts, meaning that it is to have a lot of action, drama, and suspense, along with a little ongoing mystery. I'm no good at romance, so the best I can do is hint at it here and there. The story takes place a few days after the end of 02. I hope you enjoy it, I'm putting a lot of effort into it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. If I did, I'd like to think that this story might have been in the TV show.

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Chapter One: Revelations

In his lair at the bottom of the Dark Pool, a demon-like Digimon plotted his next move. MaloMyotismon's destruction was a minor setback, nothing more. 

Nevertheless, he was irritated that one of his most promising pawns had been so easily defeated. Still, he had an excellent attack planned from an unexpected angle

"Hydramon!"

"Yesss, Karkullmon?"

"My friend, we should contact Daemon and Dragomon to tell them we will open a portal for them to the Digital World!"

"Yesssssss.......An excellent plan!"

Daemon was not having a good time. First, he was trapped in this strange oceanic world, then, he was forced to work with Dragomon, another servant of his masters who he had taken an extreme dislike to.

"I am master here," Dragomon stated imperiously. "You must obey my rules while you are my guest!"

"I call no one but the Dark Ones my master, no matter where I am, and least of all you!" Daemon responded angrily. "You're not worthy of being master of a school of fish that's five inches from a shark's mouth, let alone me! Why the Masters chose you to rule even this insignificant place I'll never know!"

"What did you say?! You insolent little imp! I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget!"

"As if you can! Even the DigiDestined couldn't defeat me! You don't stand a chance!"

"Ha! The DigiDestined? If I weren't stationed here I'd crush those little insects! I--"

Their attention was suddenly diverted to a small point of dark fire in the air, which quickly grew to an inferno framing an oblong bubble of energy twice the size of Dragomon. Pictured in the bubble were two forms cloaked in shadow. Not much could be seen of them, but there was an aura of dark power surrounding them

"Masters," Daemon said respectfully. "What do you wish of us?"

"You are to go to the Digital World, both of you. Destroy, terrorizeDo whatever you can to alert the DigiDestined of your presence. When the DigiDestined appeardispose of them as you see fit."

"Put assside your petty quarrelsss. We will not tolerate failure! You mussst to work together to dessstroy the DigiDessstined!"

A gaping hole between the worlds opened up like a huge mouth, swallowing Daemon and Dragomon up...

To the untrained eye, Kari appeared to be working on her math homework. In actuality, though, her mind was on something quite different that what _y_ equaled if it times 31 equaled 72, namely a strange feeling of uneasiness that had settled over her in the past few days.

__

Why can't I get rid of this feeling? I've tried everything! I can barely get to sleep anymore! And why can't I stop thinking about the Digital World?

A thought struck her suddenly.

__

Maybe that's it. Could something be going on in theNo, it can't be. What could possibly be happening there? MaloMyotismon is finally gone!

She sighed.

__

Maybe it'll go away if I just work on my math for a while. I have _been trying for the past hour, but still_

The beeping of the D-Terminal interrupted her thoughts. She quickly picked it up.

"It's from Izzy! Meet me at the park. I've contacted the others. Urgent. It's about the Digital World.'"

At the sight of those words, saying that she was uneasy would be an understatement. 

"Wake up, Gatomon! We have to go to the park."

"I got word from Tentomon that Daemon managed to come to the Digital World along with another Digimon." Izzy said a half hour later.

"Then let's go stop them, already!" Davis said impatiently.

"Maybe we should contact Tai and the others first," Ken responded.

"Yeah," Cody agreed. "The last time we faced Daemon, he very nearly creamed us! We need all the help we can get!"

"Perhaps we could do some reconnaissance," Hawkmon said. "It would be a good idea if we knew what they're up to."

"That seems prudent," said Izzy.

"Well what are we waiting for then?" Davis yelled impatiently. "Let's go already!"

"They've taken the bait," Daemon said, sensing the familiar energy surge of a portal opening.

"Yes," said Dragomon," and they'll soon learn the true meaning of destruction! Heh, heh, heh!"

As soon as they stepped into the Digital World, Izzy was greeted by a very familiar voice.

"Izzy! Good to see you again!"

"But just saw me two hours ago!"

"It's not the same as seeing you in person. Anyway, Daemon and that other one always seem to come from this mountain range."

They immediately started searching for the hideout of the two evil Digimon. Suddenly, a gaping hole opened up underneath them. With a mass shout, they tumbled in.

"Is everyone okay?" Izzy called out.

"Oh, they're uninjured, all right."

"We wouldn't want you to be injured before we had a chance to toy with you!"

Just as everyone was wondering who these voices belonged to, a ball of dark fire burst to life. Dark as it was, it still was enough illuminate a mysterious horned, hooded, winged figure and much less familiar one. This one was hideous! It had a torso that was humanoid enough, except for the fact that it was gigantic, grey, and hunched over in a bestial fashion. All four limbs started fairly normal, but below the part where they joined to the body, they split into a myriad of tentacles, held together as one limb only by chains wrapped around the middle. Its right arm was fused back together at the end, forming a huge, thick tentacle.

It had a pair of wings on its shoulders, but these looked small compared to the rest of its body. Its head was horrible! It had a fairly normal predatory lizard's lower jaw, but the top part of his head was shaped like an octopus!

"It's Daemon! And...another one."

"Oh, weren't you expecting us?" sneered the tentacled figure, in a creepy bubbling voice. "After all, you were going to spy on us! I am Dragomon, undersea Master of the World of Darkness!"

"Th-then _you're _the one who tried to kidnap me into the Dark Ocean?" Kari stammered.

"So you humans _do_ have brains somewhere in those thick skulls of yours! Yes, that was me. You may not know it, but you have an immense power tucked away in that pathetic human shell that is your body. I don't know what it is, but I'm willing to bet that we'll get a very good reward for bringing you before the masters! After the pathetic excuse for a housecat that calls itself your partner is destroyed, you'll be brought before the masters and they can decide your fate"

"You'll have to go through us to get to her!" T.K. declared.

"We'll just take you as well, then," Dragomon replied. "You all have a similar power, to a lesser extent. As long as we're going for one, we might as well take the whole set"

"We'll see about that!" Davis yelled. "It's time to Digivolve!"

"Veemon, Digivolve to..."

"ExVeemon!"

"Wormmon, Digivolve to..."

"Stingmon!"

"ExVeemon!"

"Stingmon!"

"DNA Digivolve to..."

"Paildramon!"

"Paildramon, Mega Digivolve to..."

"Imperialdramon!"

"Hawkmon, Digivolve to..."

"Aquilamon!"

"Aquilamon!"

"Gatomon!"

"DNA Digivolve to..."

"Silphymon!"

"Armadillomon, Digivolve to..."

"Ankylomon!"

"Patamon, Digivolve to..."

"Angemon!"

"Ankylomon!"

"Angemon!"

"DNA Digivolve to..."

"Shakkoumon!"

"Tentomon, Digivolve to..."

"Kabuterimon!"

"Kabuterimon, Digivolve to..."

"MegaKabuterimon!"

"Positron Laser!!"

Daemon dodged the attack easily and flew right behind Imperialdramon.

"Evil Inferno!!"

Imperialdramon grunted in pain and kicked at Daemon. Daemon dodged and immediately swerved in front of him.

"Oh, please! If that's your best aim then you don't stand a chance! Evil Inferno!"

This time he didn't stop with one little blast, but kept the flames going.

Imperialdramon started to writhe in agony.

"I can't take much more of this"

"Horn Buster!"

MegaKabuterimon rammed Daemon in the back, causing him to stop the attack, but not doing much more.

"Tentacle Claw!"

Dragomon slashed at MegaKabuterimon with one of his tentacles. The tentacle must have had a sharp tip, because it left a long cut on MegaKabuterimon's belly. MegaKabuterimon doubled up in pain.

"Evil Inferno!"

Daemon took full advantage of his moment of weakness, blasting him with fire. MegaKabuterimon screamed and DeDigivolved, falling out of the air and landing close to Izzy.

"And now for you!" Daemon said, turning back to Imperialdramon. He flew to one side of Imperialdramon, while Dragomon moved to the other.

"Evil Inferno!!"

"Tentacle Claw!!"

Imperialdramon cried out in pain as he was sandwiched between the two powerful attacks. He glowed brightly and DeDigivolved. Veemon and Wormmon fell and landed near the DigiDestined.

"This isn't looking good," Silphymon said nervously.

"We still have a chance!" Shakkoumon responded.

"Right" Silphymon responded, unconvinced.

"I grow tired of this game," Daemon stated coldly. "It's time to finish this!"

"I quite agree," Dragomon replied. "Tentacle Claw!!"

"Evil Inferno!!"

The remaining two Digimon were no match for the crushing attacks. They screamed in pure agony as they were hit, then glowed brightly and DeDigivolved, falling to the ground in front of their friends.

"We have to retreat," Izzy yelled.

"What?! We beat this guy once, we can do it again! And one new guy shouldn't be a problem!"

"Davis, I know how you feel. But would you rather see our Digimon destroyed? Izzy's right," Ken said. "We can come up with a plan of attack later. Right now, we'd better get out of here, and take our Digimon with us!"

"But how will we get away? With our Digimon unable to Digivolve, we have no way to escape!"

Suddenly, a bright light flashed through the cavern. When Daemon and Dragomon were able to see again, the DigiDestined were gone!

"What?! But how--"

"Undoubtedly Azulongmon's work. That meddler should

have been dealt with long ago."

"But he hasn't, and now the DigiDestined will be in his haven!"

"They'll come after us again though. I know them. When they do, we'll be ready!" 

T.K. looked around in shock. He was in a strange place. It was a brightly lit chamber shaped like an egg with no visible entrance or exit. Strange inscriptions covered the walls. Yet moments before, he had been fighting Daemon and Dragomon in a huge cavern! And Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, Joe, and _their_ Digimon certainly hadn't been there!

"What is this place?" he wondered. 

**__**

"Welcome to my haven, DigiDestined."

They all looked up at the sound of that sonorous voice. Some were only seeing the holy dragon Digimon floating above for the second time, others the very first.

"Prodigious" Izzy murmured.

"Azulongmon!" Davis exclaimed.

"_That's_ Azulongmon?!" Tai asked, awed that anything that big and powerful could exist.

"Well, I'm not all that impressed with his timing," Mimi said. "He could have caused a panic if we were brought here at the wrong time!"

**__**

"Don't worry. I knew what I was doing. I summoned you here at a time when all of you would be unnoticed--no easy task, I assure you. I brought you here for a reason. You do not have the power to defeat Daemon and Dragomon...or the force behind them. The power from the Digicore Gennai gave you is fading. Because it is the only way your Digimon are able to Digivolve to Ultimate and Mega, if its power fades, so will their Ultimate or Mega forms. But I have the answer: the Golden Digicore. It has much more power than an ordinary Digicore, and the power will never fade. Its effects are permanent. It will allow all of you original DigiDestined to Digivolve to Mega, and in some cases, even higher. In addition, it will allow all DigiDestined to be able to open the Digiports, and you will be able to use your Digivices to communicate with each other. It will affect you new DigiDestined too, but the effect will be much more erratic and unpredictable. There is only one Golden Digicore, and I won't be able to create another for aeons--you wouldn't believe the prices for the ingredients nowadays. So I'm taking a big risk. But I have faith in you. I do not believe you will let me down." 

A large sphere of golden light appeared in the midst of the DigiDestined--clearly the Golden Digicore. Its light began draining into them and their Digimon. It became dimmer and dimmer until finally it vanished, all its power residing in the DigiDestined and their Digimon.

"You mentioned a force behind Daemon and Dragomon. What is it?" Izzy asked. 

**__**

"I do not know. Its power is to great, masks itself too cleverly. I have a guess, but I don't see how it could be soI only know for sure that it exists, that it also guided MaloMyotismon and every evil Digimon before him. You will need to work together, all of you, to defeat this evil. Not that that should be anything new, but this force will test your bonds to the limit. Good luck, DigiDestined. I will now return you each to your homes. The rest is up to you, as I have given you all the help I can. Farewell!"

Light enveloped the DigiDestined, light so bright they were momentarily blinded. When they could see once more they found themselves in their respective rooms, their Digimon at their sides. 

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To be continued


End file.
